(a) Investments by superannuation funds which are held and administered by life insurance offices are included under life insurance offices.

See note on consolidation in explanatory notes, para 8

Total consolidated assets

JUNE KEY POINTS

CONSOLIDATED ASSETS

Total consolidated assets of managed funds institutions was $760.1b at 30 June 2004, an increase of $30.1b (4%) from the revised March quarter 2004 figure, reflecting increases in asset values during the quarter. During the June quarter 2004, the S&P/ASX 200 increased by 3%. The price of foreign shares (represented by the US S&P 500) increased by 1% and the $A depreciated against the $US by 9%. Domestic bond prices decreased during the quarter with the 5 year Treasury Bond yield increasing by 0.3 percentage points.

The major asset movements for the quarter were in equities and units in trusts, up $7.9b (3%), assets overseas, up $9.4b (7%), cash and deposits, up $4.8b (9%), short term securities, up $2.7b (4%), land and buildings, up $2.7b (3%) and long term securities up $1.0b (2%).

Investment managers had $733.6b in funds under management, up $33.2b (5%) from the revised March quarter 2004 figure. They managed $503.4b (66%) of consolidated managed funds' assets.

NOTES

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

There are no changes in this issue.

REVISIONS THIS ISSUE

There have been revisions in many series as a result of quality assurance work undertaken with data providers. In particular revisions have been made to: fund managers (revised back to September 1998 in respect of classification of source of funds).

In consultation with the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) total assets and the asset profile of small and medium superannuation funds has been adjusted and revised back to December 2001 to reflect analysis of the annual regulatory returns to ATO and APRA. The data for ATO regulated funds and small and medium APRA funds in this publication are consistent with the revised data published by APRA in March 2004 reference quarter edition of Super Trends (see www.apra.gov.au/statistics).

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

Survey response rates were lower than expected for the June quarter 2004. This reflected a significant amount of merger activity in the unit trust industry and public reporting cycles for listed entities. As a result there is a higher degree of imputation in this publication than usual. For these reasons the June quarter 2004 results for public unit trusts and fund managers should be considered preliminary and footnotes have been provided for affected series. In the case of listed equity and listed property trusts (Ausstat tables 10a through 11c) June quarter 2004 figures are not yet available due to insufficient data.

ROUNDING

Discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals due to rounding.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Glen Malam on Canberra (02) 6252 5040.

ANALYSIS

CONSOLIDATED ASSETS

By type of institution

At 30 June 2004, consolidated assets of superannuation funds was $381.0b, up $14.7b (4%) since March 2004. Consolidated assets of public unit trusts increased by $7.6b (5%), life insurance offices $5.1b (3%) and cash management trusts $2.6b (9%). Assets of common funds ($9.3b) and friendly societies ($4.6b) remained virtually the same.

By type of asset

The major asset movements for the quarter were in equities and units in trusts, up $7.9b (3%), assets overseas, up $9.4b (7%), cash and deposits, up $4.8b (9%), short term securities, up $2.7b (4%) and long term securities up $1.0b (2%).

Cross investment

The table below presents the unconsolidated, cross-invested and consolidated assets of managed funds by type of fund as at 30 June 2004.

Unconsolidated assets

Cross- invested assets

Consolidated assets

Type of fund

$m

$m

$m

Life insurance offices

202,880

30,930

171,950

Superannuation funds

464,764

83,785

380,979

Public unit trusts

188,085

27,182

160,904

Friendly societies

6,236

1,680

4,556

Common funds

9,687

389

9,298

Cash management trusts

32,386

-

32,386

Total

904,037

143,965

760,072

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

UNCONSOLIDATED ASSETS

Life insurance offices

At 30 June 2004, the total assets of life insurance offices stood at $202.9b, an increase of $5.4b (3%) since March 2004. Major increases were in equities and units in trusts of $2.3b (2%) and long term securities of $0.9b (4%). Loans and placements increased by $0.2b (8%) while cash and deposits and short term securities remained virtually unchanged. Assets held overseas increased by $2.0b (13%).

Superannuation funds

The total assets of superannuation funds held outside of life offices was $464.8b at 30 June 2004, an increase of $21.5b (5%) since March 2004. Holdings of equities and units in trusts increased by $11.6b (6%), of which units in trusts increased by $7.4b (10%) and private trading corporation shares increased by $2.5b (3%). Cash and deposits increased by $2.9b (7%), short term securities increased by $1.0b (4%) and long term securities increased by $0.8b (2%). Other financial assets decreased $2.2b (20%).

Public unit trusts

The total assets for public unit trusts was $188.1b at 30 June 2004, an increase of $7.8b (4%) since March 2004. The major increases were in land and buildings, up $2.2b (4%), cash and deposits, up $1.0b (15%) and assets overseas, up $1.9b (7%). There were decreases in long term securities of $0.3b (19%), loans and placements of $1.2b (22%), and short term securities, of $0.3b (9%).

Friendly societies

Total assets of friendly societies was $6.2 billion at 30 June 2004, virtually unchanged since March 2004. At the end of the quarter, equities and units in trusts stood at $1.9b, long term securities at $1.3b and short term securities at $1.4b. Together they accounted for 72% of total assets.

Common funds

Total assets of common funds was $9.7b at 30 June 2004, virtually unchanged since March 2004. Short term securities and loans and placements account for 41% and 25% respectively of total assets.

Cash management trusts

Total assets of cash management trusts was $32.4b at 30 June 2004, up $2.6b (9%) since March 2004. Short term securities increased by $2.0b (9%) while cash and deposits increased by $0.9b (21%). All other asset classes remaind virtually unchanged. Short term securities accounted for 75% of total assets.

INVESTMENT MANAGERS

Source of funds under management

During June quarter 2004 there was an increase in total funds under management by investment managers of $33.2b (5%), bringing the total funds under management to $733.6b.

The value of funds under management on behalf of superannuation funds increased by $11.5b (5%), public unit trusts increased by $1.9b (2%) and life insurance offices increased by $0.1b.

During the quarter the value of funds under management on behalf of sources other than managed funds increased $19.8b (11%). Of this, the largest increase was funds under management on behalf of other investment managers, $14.9b (36%). There were increases also in the value of funds under management on behalf of trusts other than public unit trusts, $3.0b (4%) and other sources, $0.9 (5%).

The value of funds under management on behalf of overseas sources increased to $24.1b following a $0.2b (1%) increase from the previous quarter.

Continuing merger activity has resulted in changed reporting arrangements for some fund managers. The ABS continues to work with the relevant fund managers to clarify these changes in reporting and assess their impact on the aggregates.

The value of managed funds assets invested through investment managers was $503.4b at 30 June 2004, representing 66% of the consolidated assets of managed funds.